Music Picks: Brokechella, Death and Xiu Xiu

The Greek goddess Circe has been reincarnated as a local singer-songwriter, but she doesn't need magic potions to lure unwary travelers. Instead, Circe Link entrances with breezy vocals and a winning blend of jazz-pop swing and rootsy folk on her seventh album, Dumb Luck. "I've always backed my way through life 'till I backed into you," she confides on the love-struck title track, as her musical partner, Christian Nesmith, chops up jaunty chords on his acoustic guitar and backup singers Debra Tala and Laura Drew surround Link with a Greek chorus of tight, consoling harmonies. Apart from a summery remake of The Monkees' gem "Calico Girlfriend" (written by Nesmith's dad, Michael Nesmith), Dumb Luck brims with Link and Nesmith's original tunes, like the dreamy country ballad "City Lights" and the after-hours cabaret idyll "Dream On." —Falling James

Radwaste, Human Hands

CAFE NELA

Although punk rock has morphed over the decades from a once-shocking form of musical subversion into background music for skateboarding videos, the post-punk genre still retains its possibilities of change and exploration. For every modern post-punk group that's content to mimic Bauhaus and Siouxsie & the Banshees, there are exciting new bands who take their early-'80s influences into exhilaratingly strange new terror-tory. Both Human Hands and members of Radwaste (which includes 17 Pygmies' Michael Kory and 100 Flowers' John Talley-Jones) were around in the early days of SoCal punk, but their intellectual experimentations often were overlooked during that era's preoccupation with macho, guttural hardcore. Radwaste have a heavily percussive sound that draws upon Gang of Four's mechanized funk, whereas Human Hands still exude a whimsical artiness, even without their late founding singer, David Wiley. —Falling James

sat 4/19

Krush Groove with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, DJ Quik, Too $hort

THE FORUM

Legendary 93.5 KDAY presents Krush Groove 2014, a concert featuring some of hip-hop's most influential acts past and present. Headlining the show are top-selling, Cleveland-based rap legends Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. After a brief hiatus in 2011, during which Krayzie and Wish left the group, the guys were able to reconcile creative and personal differences and reunite in 2012. More breakup rumors abounded after Layzie failed to participate in the 2013 Everything 100 Tour and signed a solo deal with eOne Music (formerly Koch Records). Layzie is, however, scheduled to appear with the group for tonight's show, which includes sets by DJ Quik, Too $hort, Method Man & Redman, Tha Eastsidaz, The Lady of Rage, Daz & WC and surprise guests. 0x000A—Jacqueline Michael Whatley

Brokechella

590 SANTA FE AVE., DOWNTOWN

Ditch your desert festival FOMO and take yourself on a cheap date with Brokechella. Now in its fourth year, the event is an ever-growing, ever-promising celebration of local musicians and visual artists. The arts and music festival indulges all the senses across every genre, with interactive art installations, food trucks, comedians and yes, you can even bring your dog for Puppychella. Advance passes are a cool 10 bucks, with the promise of swag and cheap brew, and 60-plus names including HOTT MT, LA Font, Kittens and Azad Right. Haven't heard of them? That's OK; with alumni booking national tours and even playing Coachella these days, Brokechella is the best place to catch emerging acts before they blow up. "Long live the broke kingdom!" —Britt Witt

sun 4/20

dios

THE ECHO

Time for a resurrection: Hawthorne's long-gone dios are reuniting for a show on this high and holy 4/20 Easter Sunday, also a good day for gentle, psychedelic celebration. Now spending his days recording every band that'll be famous next year, frontman Joel Jerome reconstituted this original lineup — brother Kevin Morales, bassist J.P. Caballero and keyboard player Jimi Cabeza De Vaca — to play their entire 2004 debut, home to songs such as "Starting Five" and "All Said + Done," which had everything that made dios so great: echoes of Lennon, Wilson (Brian or Dennis), Rhodes, Hansen, Roback and Young, beautiful production; and honesty spiked with immortal sarcasm. If you saw 'em then, I know you'll go. And if you didn't, you better be there. —Chris Ziegler

Pete Anderson

VIVA CANTINA

Guitar man Pete Anderson's brand of original blues is thoroughly contemporary and deeply imbued with the brawny heritage of his native Detroit. Anderson is also an acutely self-possessed perfectionist, yet those qualities never detract from the stunning musicality with which he has long distinguished himself. No ham-fisted bar-band blues rocker he; every song is a study in elegant, spontaneous combustion, at once earthy and emotionally desperate but put across with an intoxicating combination of impeccable technique and soulful involvement. You can hear this cat once a week for two months straight (he also gigs every Monday at Burbank's Moose Lodge), and he'll never play a song the same way twice. This kind of elevated musical kapow is exactly what we all need more of. —Jonny Whiteside

mon 4/21

Lawrence Rothman

BOOTLEG

He's Elizabeth Taylor cavorting with trannies at the Chateau Marmont, or he's the bloody-pulp victim of a severe beating, or he's a rotten-toothed prisoner banging the bars of his dank, dark cell. L.A. musician/conceptual artiste Lawrence Rothman's videos portray the protagonist as an ever-mutating assemblage of characters who communicate via Rothman's rich baritone croon and moody house/R&B/noir-cinema production. Surgically probing the murky recesses of his troubled self (selves), Rothman creates an invitingly strange, Lynchian world, zeroing in on the worst of life in order to make something like the best of life. Rothman brings several new personas to his residency every Monday night in April at the Bootleg; tonight's event also features Gallant and Jarell Perry. —John Payne

tue 4/22

Death

THE SATELLITE

Considering that just about all rock music is based on blues and R&B, it has always been a national shame that so few African-Americans get much support in the rock world. Of course, the Detroit hard-rock outfit Death would have been an anomaly in any era. Composed of three brothers — Bobby, Dannis and the late David Hackney — Death could space out with such melodic opuses as "Let the World Turn" but also had a heavy, aggressive sound on searing tracks such as "Politicians in My Eyes," which anticipated groups like Bad Brains and The Bots (and punk rock in general, although the band's breakup in 1977 prevented them from taking advantage of that cultural shift). The 2012 documentary A Band Called Death brought them overdue attention, inspiring Bobby and Dannis Hackney to reunite. —Falling James

wed 4/23

Revolver Golden Gods Awards

CLUB NOKIA

The sixth annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards show will feature live performances by some of the biggest names in hard rock and metal. Two of the night's most prestigious honors will go to two of hard rock's living legends: Axl Rose, who is taking home a Lifetime Achievement Award, and Joan Jett, honored as a Golden God. The night will feature the area's first Guns N' Roses live set since the band's 2011 show at the Forum (and no, the show won't feature the Appetite for Destruction lineup). Additional artists slated to perform include Jett and the Blackhearts, Korn, A Day to Remember, Zakk Wylde and The Pretty Reckless. For hard-rock fans, seeing any of these bands in a small setting is worth the price of admission. —Daniel Kohn

Off!

ROXY THEATRE

Living proof that punk rock and snotty youth are not, after all, indivisible, L.A.'s Off! — comprising current and former members of Circle Jerks, Burning Brides, Redd Kross and Rocket From the Crypt — bring a veteran's clarity of vision to the genre, which only hones their sonic vitriol. Shunning the aural ambiguities of many of punk's later substrains (pop-punk, ska-punk, post-punk, etc.), the quartet cuts to the quick, figuratively and literally, with songs that get real fast, real fast — Dimitri Coats' garage-fuzz guitars seldom linger even four beats on a single chord, while Keith Morris' semi-shouted rants detail stuff that apparently makes him pretty darn angry. A timeless SoCal soundtrack to pool skating and kegger crashing, Off! redefine "all-ages punk" in the best possible way. —Paul Rogers

Xiu Xiu

THE CHURCH ON YORK

Xiu Xiu's latest album, Angel Guts: Red Classroom, is even denser and more disturbing than the electronic band's previous release, Always. Leader Jamie Stewart, Xiu Xiu's one original member, growls and mutters cryptic sentiments on "New Life Immigration" and "Stupid in the Dark." Even his synthesizers and banks of electronics appear to mock him in return, sending out waves of mind-blotting noise as Stewart shudders and sounds as if he's weeping on "The Silver Platter." Xiu Xiu have occasionally used their arty instincts to show a way out of the darkness through melody, especially on past tracks featuring Angela Seo. But Angel Guts involves a much more tangled and nightmarish fall down the rabbit hole. —Falling James

thu 4/24

Chick Corea & Béla Fleck

ROYCE HALL

Pianist Chick Corea's career dates back to the 1960s, when he first came to prominence in the bands of Miles Davis as a member of the seminal Bitches Brew–era lineups, which helped launch jazz fusion. Corea has kept himself involved in a wide range of musical projects, which have led him to a record 22 Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards. Banjo master Béla Fleck is no stranger to musical variety, expanding from traditional bluegrass to world, fusion, classical and jazz, receiving Grammy nominations in more categories than any other musician, winning 12. Tonight the pair brings its 2007 Latin Grammy Award–winning album, The Enchantment, to life in a concert featuring a pair of America's genuine masters of music. —Tom Meek